1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a printer for printing on paper fed from a paper storage section by a thermal head and a platen respectively provided inside a printer body, and discharging the printed paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally a printer of this type as disclosed, for example, in JP. 7-186414, A.
This printer is described with reference to FIG. 6. The printer comprises a printer body 50, a closing lid 51 turnably provided on the printer body 50, a driving roller 52 rotatably attached to the inner surface of the closing lid 51, and a roll paper holder part 54 for holding roll paper 53. A thermal head 55 is brought into contact with the driving roller 52 under pressure by a resiliency or a biasing force of a spring 56. The roll paper 53 is led between the driving roller 52 and the thermal head 55, and the roll paper 53 is printed by the thermal head 55, then the printed roll paper is discharged outside the printer body 50 through a paper discharge port 57 formed on the upper portion of the printer body 50.
However, in the case of such a printer having the paper discharge port on the printer body through which printed paper is discharged outside the printer body, the printed paper discharged through the paper discharge port has to be received directly by hand so as to prevent the printed paper to be discharged through the paper discharge port from dropping on a floor and the like. Accordingly, in this case, if the number of paper to be printed is large, a user is susceptible to inconvenience such that the user can not move away from the printer. To avoid such an inconvenience, a discharge tray is attached to the underside of the paper discharge port on which printed paper is automatically discharged, thereby preventing such an inconvenience.
However, in such a case, a user is liable to accidentally strike against a protruded part of the paper discharge tray or bring down the printer when the user devotes himself or herself in other affairs.
The invention solved the foregoing problems and it is an object of the invention to provide a printer wherein paper discharged after printing does not drop on a floor and the like even if it is not directly received by a hand, and a discharge tray does not protrude largely from the surface of a printer body.
To achieve the above object, the printer of the invention has the followings constructions.
In the printer for printing on paper fed by a paper feed section from a paper storage section by a thermal head and a platen respectively provided inside a printer body and discharging the printed paper to a paper discharge section, the paper storage section is placed at a lower portion of the printer body. The paper feed section, the thermal head and the platen is placed over the paper storage section, and a paper discharge section is placed at the downstream side of the thermal head in the paper feed direction and positioned over the paper storage section.
With the foregoing construction, the printer can be made very compact in the fore-and-aft direction, namely, in a thickness direction as a whole compared with a printer having a paper storage section provided inside the printer body at the rear portion thereof, a paper feed section and a paper discharge section respectively provided in front of the paper storage section.
In this printer, if all the paper discharge section are provided inside the printer body without protruding outward from the printer body, all the paper discharge section does not protrude outward from the printer body, and hence the printer becomes compact and has a good-looking external shape.
If the paper discharge section is provided integrally with the paper storage section and movable relative to the printer body, and further the paper storage section can be moved to a position where the paper can be set on the paper storage section, the paper can be easily set on the paper storage section by moving the paper storage section to a position where the paper can be set on the paper storage section even if the paper storage section is provided inside the printer body.
Further, if the paper feed section is provided integrally with and movable together with the paper discharge section, the paper discharge section can be moved integrally with the paper storage section, and hence if the paper storage section is moved to a position where paper can be set on the paper storage section, the paper feed section can be moved to a position where the paper is liable to set on the paper feed section at the same time.
The thermal head is preferably attached to the printer body while the platen is attached to a member integrated with the paper storage section and movable together with the paper storage section. In that case, when the paper storage section is moved to a position where the paper can be set thereon, the platen is moved together with the member integrated with the paper storage section so that the platen is moved away from the thermal head.
Accordingly, if there is paper caught between the thermal head and the platen before the paper storage section is moved, the paper is not rendered in a state caught between the thermal head and the platen because the thermal head is left on the printer body side so that the paper is moved together with the platen to the position where the paper can be set on the paper storage section. As a result, it is possible to easily clear a paper jam.
Further, the printer may be further provided with a lock mechanism having a lock member, wherein the lock member moves interlocked with the movement of the paper discharge section and locks the paper feed section so that the paper feed section does not move the paper when the paper discharge section is moved from a position where the paper discharge section can receive the printed paper to a position where the paper can be set on the paper storage section together with the paper storage section.
In that case, when the paper discharge section is moved integrally with the paper storage section to a position where paper can be set on the paper storage section, the lock member of the lock mechanism locks the paper feed section in a state where the paper is not moved, interlocked with the movement of the paper discharge section. As a result, the lock state of paper held by the paper feed section continues until the paper storage section is returned to a position where the paper storage section is before it is moved so that the paper does not drop from the paper feed section in the midway of returning the paper storage section.
Further, if the paper discharge section is supported by a supporting member to be turnable, and the paper discharge section is turnable until the paper feed section is exposed to the front face of the printer body, when the paper discharge section is turned together with the paper feed section, the paper feed section is moved until it is exposed to the front face of the printer body, so that the paper can be easily set.
If the printer further comprises a front cover for covering the front face of the paper storage section, wherein the cover is turnably attached to the paper storage section and it is moved away from the front face of the paper storage section when the cover is opened, the paper storage section is covered with the front cover when the printer operates, thereby assuring security. Further, when the paper storage section is replenished with paper, the front cover can be opened, and thereby the replenishment of paper can be made more easily.
Further, if the paper discharge section is integrally provided with a cutter for cutting the printed paper, when the paper is jammed at the cutter, the paper discharge section is moved away from a setting position of the printer body so that the cutter moves as the paper discharge section is moved, thereby easily clearing the paper jam.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description which is to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.